dmixture of ordinary high Javanese or Krama. A definite date (1195,
A.D.) is assigned to it, and the name of its author is said to be Hempu,
or M'pu, S'dah. The subject of the poem is identical with that of four
of the parvans of the Mahabharata, but the scene is changed from India
to Java. It contains an account of the struggle between the Pandavas, or
five sons of Pandu, and the Kauravas, or hundred sons of Dhritavashtra,
in which the latter are ultimately defeated in their attempt to obtain
the kingdom of Ngastina. The scene is laid in the plains around the
city Ngastina, or in the city itself. The poem opens with the following
lines:--[25]

"In war 'tis the prayer of the brave to annihilate the foe;
To see the braids of fallen chiefs scattered like flowers before
the wind;
To rend their garments, and burn alike their altars and their
palaces;
Boldly to strike off their heads while seated in their chariots,
and thus to obtain renown."

The episode of King Salya, one of the Kaurava princes, and Satiavati,
his queen, is singularly romantic, and reveals a high ideal of wifely
devotion. The poem relates how Salya steals away from his wife, and
sacrifices himself on the field of battle. Then Satiavati wanders over
this same field of battle by night in quest of his corpse. A flash of
lightning is sent to direct her steps, and when she has found the body
of her husband, she addresses the corpse in a speech in which she
declares her intention of following his spirit.

"But earth has lost its fleeting charms for me
And, happy spirit, I will follow thee."

She continues--

"Though widadaris[26] should obey thy call
Reserve for me a place above them all,"

and finally stabs herself.

To her faithful maid Sagandika she says--

"Tell them to think of Satiavati's fate,
And oft the story of her love relate."

But Sagandika also kills herself.

"Then did their happy spirits wing their way
To the fair regions of eternal day."

I conclude the episode by a quotation from the prose rendering given by
Raffles, which keeps more exactly to the original, and gives a
characteristically Eastern picture of heaven.

"The astonished spirit of Prince Salya quickly said--

"'Uneasy and impatient have I waited for thee among the clouds,
with many widadaris, panditas, and diwas.'

"Having taken the princess in his arms, he returns with her by